International Cricket Council cricket committee dwells on menace of suspect actions

Bangalore, Jun 6 : Concerned about the growing menace of chucking, the ICC‘s cricket committee feels the current methods to detect illegal bowling actions are not adequate and umpires should be more confident in reporting violators. In a two-day meeting here, the committee, headed by former India captain felt more needs to be done to check illegal bowling actions. ”The committee discussed the issue of illegal bowling actions, and believed that there are a number of bowlers currently employing suspect actions in international cricket, and that the ICC’s reporting and testing procedures are not adequately scrutinising these bowlers,” the ICC said in a statement here.

“It recommended that changes be considered to encourage umpires and referees to identify suspect bowlers with greater confidence, to use the expertise of the biomechanists working in this area to assume a greater role during the assessment process, and to allow for ongoing scrutiny of bowlers once they have been identified under the ICC procedures,” it added. The ICC Cricket Committee makes recommendations on cricket playing issues to the Chief Executives’ Committee (CEC) and, if it is a policy matter, the ICC Board for approval.

Both the CEC and the ICC Board are scheduled to meet during the ICC annual conference week in Melbourne from June 22-28. The ICC Cricket Committee comprises representatives of many stakeholder groups involved in the modern game, including players, umpires and the media. ”Members of the committee were also updated on the project to increase the number of illegal action testing centres around the cricketing world, noting that Cardiff Metropolitan University was now accredited to conduct illegal action testing for the ICC, and that other facilities in India, Australia, England and South Africa were likely to be accredited over coming months,” the ICC said.